Adria Gasol, Younger Brother of Pau and Marc, to Walk-On at UCLA

Adria Gasol, 18-year-old brother of NBA big men Pau and Marc Gasol, will walk-on at UCLA this fall. Adria isn’t expected to make a huge impact at UCLA, at least not right away; the 6-10 forward played sparingly as a freshman and sophomore at Lausanne High School in Memphis before returning to Spain for his final two seasons, and was cut from the Spanish U-18 team last summer. Via Yahoo.com: “At age 18, Pau was a phenom who joined Barcelona’s senior team after excelling for the junior team the previous two seasons. Marc was overweight while attending high school in Memphis and did not blossom into NBA prospect until he returned to Barcelona. ‘(Adria) looks like a typical late-developing kid — long, skinny, fast but lost on the court,’ said Rafal Juc, a Poland-based scout for EuroHopes.com. ‘Adria was on radar of a couple of Spanish agents and scouts, but they don’t see him in the future on as high a level as his brothers play. His basketball IQ is limited, he shows some serious lack of basketball fundamentals and struggles due to many injuries. But in my opinion it’s smart move by UCLA (to add him). It doesn’t cost anything to get the kid a place (on the) basketball team when he pays for his academics, especially when his last name is Gasol.'”